Minerals for underwater tunnels

In December 2011 Minelco exhibited at the STUVA conference in Berlin presenting our mineral portfolio to the tunnelling industry.

As the leading research institute for underground construction and underground infrastructures Minelco felt that the conference participants would be the ideal target audience for our minerals for use in underground tunnelling. Minelco MagnaDense is a high density mineral used extensively in heavy dense concrete applications, we also offer a range of fire retardants such as Minelco UltraCarb which can be used in the caballing required in an underground tunnel. Minelco Mica was also of interest for fire protection as it can be incorporated into the shotcrete that is used in tunnels.

Of particular interest to Minelco was the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel project which was presented for the first time at this event; the tunnel will connect Denmark and Germany; a combined road and railway tunnel which will be the world’s largest submerged tunnel (a total length of 18km). The minerals presented by Minelco are particularly interesting for this project as it is a tunnel that will be placed in the seabed which is an application Minelco MagnaDense is ideal for.